JP2005278920A - Game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily drop a game ball hit from a hitting device to a desired position inside a game area. <P>SOLUTION: In the game machine, the hit game ball P is guided by a rail 28a disposed on a game board surface and moved. The game ball is separated from the rail by gravity and dropped into the game area 11 when its moving speed lowers. In the game machine, a hitting operation part operated by a player, the hitting device for hitting the game balls to the game area and a control unit for controlling the hitting device corresponding to the operation of the hitting operation part are included further. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a gaming machine that uses a game ball to play a game.

A pachinko machine is well known as a gaming machine that uses a game ball to play a game (for example, Patent Document 1). In a conventional pachinko machine, a substantially circular gaming area is formed by rails arranged on the game board surface. In this game area, a pachinko ball (that is, a game ball) is launched from the launching device. The pachinko ball launched from the launching device moves while being guided by the rail by centrifugal force while its speed is high. When the speed of the pachinko ball slows down, it is separated from the rail by the action of gravity and falls into the game area while drawing a parabola. Therefore, the falling position of the launched pachinko ball on the game area is determined by the firing speed of the pachinko ball. The firing speed of the pachinko ball can be adjusted by the operation amount of the firing handle. For this reason, the player adjusts the operation amount of the launch handle so that the pachinko ball falls into the game area at a desired position.
JP 2004-89513 A

  In a conventional gaming machine, in order to drop a pachinko ball to a game area at a desired position, it is necessary to operate a launch handle by predicting a parabola when the fired pachinko ball naturally falls. For this reason, it is difficult to drop the pachinko ball to a desired position in the game area. In particular, due to the recent increase in the size of center accessory devices (for example, a symbol display device arranged in the center of the game board surface), the position of the nail arranged in the game area has moved upwards in the game area and has been launched. The ball is hitting the nail from the side. The rebound direction of the pachinko ball that collided with the nail from the lateral direction is difficult to predict, which makes it more difficult to drop the pachinko ball to a desired position.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a gaming machine capable of easily dropping a game ball launched from a launching device to a desired position in a game area. .

  In order to achieve the above object, in the gaming machine of the present invention, the launched game ball moves while being guided by a rail arranged on the surface of the game board, and when the moving speed of the game ball becomes slow, the game ball is moved from the rail by gravity. In a gaming machine that falls into a separated game area, a launch operation unit operated by a player, a stopper whose position can be changed along a rail, a launch device that launches a game ball toward the game area, and a launch operation unit A control unit that controls the stopper and the launching device in accordance with the operation. When the launch operation unit is operated, the control unit adjusts the position of the stopper according to the operation amount of the launch operation unit, and the game ball launched from the launch device is stopped regardless of the position of the stopper. The launching device is driven so as to collide with.

  In this gaming machine, when a player operates the launch operation unit, the position of the stopper changes along the rail according to the amount of operation, and a game ball is launched from the launch device at a launch speed that collides with the stopper. . For this reason, the game ball launched from the launching device once collides with the stopper and then falls into the game area. The falling direction of the game ball after the stopper collision can be easily predicted compared to the rebound direction when the game ball collides with the nail from the side, and the position of the stopper should be visually recognized by the player. Can do. Therefore, the player can drop the pachinko ball to a desired position in the game area by adjusting the operation amount of the firing operation unit while viewing the position of the stopper.

  In the gaming machine according to means 1, when the firing operation unit is operated, the control unit drives the launching device with a constant firing strength regardless of the position of the stopper. And it is preferable that the launching intensity of the launching device is set so that the game ball collides with the stopper even when the stopper moves to the farthest position. According to such a configuration, since it is not necessary to provide the launching device with a function of adjusting the launching intensity according to the operation amount of the launching operation unit, the launching device can be simply configured.

  In each of the above gaming machines, it is preferable that the control unit can adjust the position of the stopper steplessly in accordance with the operation amount of the launch operation unit. According to such a configuration, since the position of the stopper can be adjusted steplessly, the player can finely adjust the falling position of the game ball.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the stopper has a shape such that the game ball that has collided rebounds downward. According to such a configuration, the game ball that collided with the stopper rebounds downward, so that the player can more easily drop the game ball to a desired position in the game area.

  The stopper is preferably made of an impact absorbing material. According to such a configuration, the game ball that has collided with the stopper absorbs the momentum by the stopper and falls into the game area in a state where the momentum is lost. Therefore, the game ball can be brought into an ideal flow state.

Hereinafter, the purpose of the gaming machine according to the present application and the best embodiment for achieving the purpose are listed.
(Purpose 1) A game ball launched from the launching device is dropped to a game area at a desired position.
(Purpose 2) The game ball launched from the launching device is dropped into the game area in an ideal state (that is, in a state where there is no momentum from vertically above the game area).
(Purpose 3) The game ball launched from the launching device is prevented from colliding with the nail from the lateral direction, thereby suppressing the change of the nail interval.

(Characteristic 1) A rail for guiding a game ball is arranged on the game board, and the position of the stopper can be changed along the rail. The position of the stopper is changed according to the operation amount of the firing handle. On the other hand, the launching device launches a game ball at a constant firing speed regardless of the operation amount of the launching handle. The launched game ball collides with the stopper and falls into the game area.
(Feature 2) The game board is housed in a frame. A window is provided in front of the frame. The player can view the game area on the game board surface and the stopper from the window.
(Feature 3) The stopper is formed of an impact absorbing material (for example, α-Gel). The game ball that has collided with the stopper absorbs the momentum and falls from vertically above the game area.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a pachinko machine will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a pachinko machine according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the pachinko machine 10 has a frame 12, and a window 14 is provided on the front surface of the frame 12. The window 14 is formed in a substantially circular shape following a game area 11 of a game board 26 (described later), and transparent glass is disposed in the opening of the window 14. For this reason, the player can visually recognize the game area 11 in the window 14.

Further, an upper plate 16 that is a receiving tray for prize balls is provided on the front surface of the frame body 12. The upper plate 16 stores pachinko balls paid out from a payout device (not shown) disposed on the back surface of the frame body 12. The bottom surface 16a of the upper plate 16 is an inclined surface that becomes lower toward the right side of the drawing, and guides the pachinko balls in the upper plate 16 to the launching device 22.
The launching device 22 includes a launching mechanism (such as a launching motor) for firing a pachinko ball toward the game area 11 and a launching handle 18. The launch mechanism is housed in the frame 12 and can be configured in the same manner as a known pachinko machine. The firing handle 18 is rotatably disposed on the lower right front surface of the frame body 12 and can be operated by the player.

  A game board 26 is accommodated in the frame 12. 3 to 5 are front views of the game board 26. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the game board 26 has a rail 28 a for guiding the pachinko ball P launched from the launching device 22 to the game area 11 on the left side of the front surface thereof, and the game area 11 and the right side of the front surface thereof. A rail 28b that demarcates the boundary with other regions is disposed, and a movable rail 36 is disposed at a break between the rail 28a and the rail 28b. These three rails 28a, 28b, 36 form a substantially circular gaming area 11.

A center accessory device 30 is arranged at the center in the game area 11. The center accessory device 30 includes a symbol display device (for example, a liquid crystal display), and various game effects are displayed on the symbol display device. Various winning devices 32 and 34 are arranged below the center accessory device 30. When the pachinko ball P wins the winning devices 32, 34, etc., the winning ball is paid out from the payout device, or a game effect or the like is displayed on the center accessory device 30.
In addition, a large number of nails 31 are arranged around the center accessory device 30, and various prizes are arranged in which the pachinko balls P falling into the game area 11 by the nails 31 are arranged below the center accessory device 30. Guide to devices 32, 34. As is apparent from the figure, when the center accessory device 30 is increased in size, the position of the nail disposed above the center accessory device 30 becomes higher.

  The movable rail 36 is formed in an arc shape substantially the same as the curvature of the rails 28a, 28b, and is formed longer than the cut line between the rail 28a and the rail 28b. A stopper 38 is provided substantially at the center of the inner peripheral surface of the movable rail 36. The stopper 38 is made of an impact absorbing material (for example, a hard rubber material such as α-Gel) and protrudes from the inner peripheral surface of the movable rail 36 toward the game area 11. Further, the lower end of the stopper 38 (that is, the end on the game area 11 side) is chamfered.

  The movable rail 36 is slidable along an arc formed by the rails 28a and 28b by a drive mechanism provided on the back side of the game board 26. For this reason, if the movable rail 36 moves, the stopper 38 will also move in circular arc shape with the movement. The movable range of the rail 36, that is, the movable range of the stopper 38 is from a position where the stopper 38 is close to the rail 28a (see FIG. 3) to a position where the stopper 38 is close to the rail 28b (see FIG. 4). .

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG. 5 and schematically shows the drive mechanism of the movable rail 36. As shown in FIG. 6, a groove 40 corresponding to the shape of the movable rail is formed in the game board 26, and the movable rail 36 protrudes from the back side of the game board 26 to the front side through the groove 40. A rack 37 is formed on the upper surface of the end of the movable rail 36 on the back side of the game board, and the pinion gear 25 is engaged with the rack 37. The pinion gear 25 is fixed to the output shaft 24 s of the motor 24. Therefore, when the motor 24 rotates, the pinion gear 25 also rotates, and thereby the movable rail 36 slides. The motor 24 is supported on a plate 42 fixed to the back surface of the game board 26.

  In the pachinko machine 10 configured as described above, a control configuration related to a launching device that launches a pachinko ball will be described. In addition, about the part which is not related with a launching device, it can comprise similarly to a well-known pachinko machine, and since it does not characterize this invention in particular, the description is abbreviate | omitted here.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control configuration related to the launching apparatus of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, a firing handle 18 is connected to a control unit 20 that performs control related to the launch of a pachinko ball. When the firing handle 18 is operated by the player, a signal corresponding to the operation amount is input to the control unit 20. The firing handle 18 is provided with a touch sensor (not shown), and the output of the touch sensor is also input to the control unit 20. The control unit 20 determines whether or not the player is touching the firing handle 18 based on an input signal from the touch sensor.

The control unit 20 is connected to a launching device 22 (specifically, a launching motor that launches pachinko balls) and a motor 24 that drives the movable rail 36. The control unit 20 drives the firing device 22 and the motor 24 when the firing handle 18 is operated. Specifically, the control unit 20 drives the motor 24 according to the operation amount of the firing handle 18, thereby positioning the stopper 38 at a position corresponding to the operation amount of the firing handle 18. Further, the control unit 20 drives the launching device 22 with a predetermined constant firing force, and launches the pachinko ball toward the game area 11 at a constant speed. The firing speed of the pachinko ball launched from the launching device 22 (that is, determined by the launch intensity) is the speed at which the pachinko ball collides with the stopper 38 regardless of the position of the stopper 38.
The control unit 20 monitors whether or not the firing handle 22 has been operated by the player using a touch sensor, thereby preventing the launching device 22 and the motor 24 from being erroneously driven.

In the pachinko machine 10 configured as described above, when the player operates the firing handle 18, the position of the stopper 38 changes according to the amount of operation (see FIGS. 3 to 5). On the other hand, the pachinko ball P is launched from the launching device 22 at a constant speed, and the launched pachinko ball P collides with the stopper 38. The stopper 38 is chamfered at the lower end and is formed of an impact absorbing material. For this reason, the momentum of the pachinko ball that has collided with the stopper 38 is absorbed, and falls almost directly below the stopper 38 (see arrows in FIGS. 3 to 5). The player can visually recognize the position of the stopper 38 from the window 11. Therefore, according to the pachinko machine of the present embodiment, the player operates the firing handle 18 while confirming the position of the stopper 38 to position the stopper 38 at the desired position, and the pachinko ball at the desired position in the game area 11. Can be dropped.
Further, the momentum of the pachinko ball that has collided with the stopper 38 is absorbed by the stopper 38, and falls almost vertically below the stopper 38, that is, substantially perpendicular to the nail 31 disposed in the game area 11. Therefore, the pachinko ball launched from the launching device 22 can be dropped into the game area 11 in an ideal state.
Further, since the pachinko ball P falls substantially perpendicular to the stopper 38 and collides with the nail from above, it is possible to prevent the lateral interval of the nail from changing with time. For this reason, the frequency | count of the operation | work (so-called nail adjustment operation | work) which adjusts the space | interval between nails can be decreased.
Since the launching device 22 launches the pachinko ball with a constant firing force regardless of the operation amount of the launching handle 18, a launching force adjustment function corresponding to the operation amount of the launching handle 18 that has been conventionally required is unnecessary. be able to.

Specific examples of the present invention have been described in detail above, but these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications and changes of the specific examples illustrated above.
For example, in the embodiment described above, the stopper 38 is provided on the movable rail 36, and the position of the stopper 38 is changed by sliding the movable rail 36. However, the mechanism for changing the position of the stopper 38 is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, a plurality of stoppers are embedded along the rail, and the stopper protruding from the game board surface is changed according to the operation amount of the firing handle. You may do it. Also with such a method, the position of the stopper changes according to the operation amount of the launch handle, and the pachinko ball can be dropped into the game area at a desired position.
In the above-described embodiment, the pachinko ball is launched from the launching device 22 with a constant firing force regardless of the operation amount of the launching handle 18. However, according to the present invention, the firing force of the launching device may be adjusted to a preset value in accordance with the operation amount of the launching handle so that the speed when colliding with the stopper becomes substantially constant. Thereby, no matter where the pachinko ball collides with the stopper, the pachinko ball can be dropped to the game area in a state where the momentum of the pachinko ball has disappeared.
When the firing handle 18 is operated from a state where it is not operated (that is, when the player starts a pachinko game), first, the stopper position adjusting motor is driven so as to change the position of the stopper. The firing device may be operated after the position of the stopper is adjusted. According to such a configuration, the launch of the pachinko ball at a stage where the position adjustment of the stopper is not performed is prevented.
Furthermore, although the embodiment described above is an example in which the present invention is applied to a first type pachinko machine, the present invention is a gaming machine other than the first type pachinko machine (for example, the second type pachinko machine, the third type pachinko machine). , Sparrow ball machines, arrange balls, etc.). For example, in the third type pachinko machine, it is necessary to change the position where the pachinko ball is dropped according to the game, but by applying the technique of the present invention, the fall position of the pachinko ball can be easily adjusted. Anyone can easily enjoy pachinko games on the third-class pachinko machines.
It should be noted that the technical elements described in this specification or the drawings exhibit technical usefulness alone or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims at the time of filing. In addition, the technology illustrated in the present specification or the drawings achieves a plurality of objects at the same time, and has technical utility by achieving one of the objects.

It is a front schematic diagram of the pachinko machine concerning this example. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of the pachinko machine shown in FIG. It is a front view of the game board of a pachinko machine (state where a stopper is located in the vicinity of the rail 28a). It is a front view of the game board of a pachinko machine (state where a stopper is located in the vicinity of the rail 28b). It is a front view of the game board of a pachinko machine (a state where the stopper is located at the approximate center of the rails 28a, 28b). FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 5.

Explanation of symbols

10. Pachinko machine 11 Game area 12 Frame 14 Window 18 Launch handle 20 Control unit 22 Launch device 28a, 28b Rail 36 Movable rail 38 Stopper

Claims (1)

In the gaming machine in which the launched game ball is guided and moved by the rail arranged on the game board surface, and when the moving speed of the game ball becomes slow, the game ball is separated from the rail by gravity and falls into the game area.
A launch operation unit operated by a player;
A launcher that launches a game ball toward the game area;
A game machine comprising: a control unit that controls a launching device in accordance with an operation of a launching operation unit.

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